The road turned a bit rocky for the Cedar Grove-Belgium boys’ soccer team last week, but at least one player stayed on a smooth roll.

Senior forward Kyle Kirst, who has emerged as the Rockets’ top offensive threat, continued to carry the scoring load when they split a pair of Central Lakeshore Conference games at home.CEDAR GROVE-BELGIUM’S John Schmidt (left) tried to maneuver past a Sheboygan Christian player during their teams‘ Central Lakeshore Conference game last week. Christian defeated the host Rockets, 4-2. Photo by Sam Arendt

Kirst had two goals in each match, most recently a 4-2 loss to Sheboygan Christian on Sept. 1.

Christian did all its scoring in the first half, building a 4-1 lead by intermission. Four players — Josh Seider, Kyle Stecker, Josh Stecker and Alessandro Peiri — scored for the Eagles.

The Rockets were unable to overcome their slow start even though Kirst had a goal in each half.

“Kyle has been playing great soccer. He has great speed and beats a lot of people to the ball,” Cedar Grove-Belgium coach Eric Miller said.

Miller said a lack of early focus cost his team, which fell to 2-3 in conference play and 3-5 overall.

“We came out kind of slow, and it hurt,” he said. “We got our players fired up at halftime and played 1-0 soccer after that, so that was a positive.”

CG-Belgium 3, Random Lake 2

The Rockets raced to a 3-0 lead in the first half and hung on for a victory Aug. 30.

An own goal by the Rams gave Cedar Grove-Belgium a 1-0, and Kirst scored twice before intermission.

In the second half, Random Lake fought back to make a game of it. Andrew Ross converted a penalty kick, and Travis Deppiesse added a score to pull the Rams within a goal.

“We controlled the midfield in the first half, but Random Lake made a good adjustment to that,” Miller said. “In the second half, they came out more aggressive.

“But it was good to see us hold on the way we did. It was a good learning experience for us.”

In addition to Kirst, Miller praised the play of defenders Erik Weiland, Josh Ruppel and Christian O’Donnell and midfielder Alex Romanini.

“Our top defensive players have all been plenty solid,” Miller said.

This week, the Rockets will host first-place Kohler in a CLC game at 6 p.m. Thursday and participate in the Wrightstown Invitational on Saturday.

The Ozaukee boys’ soccer team is off to a tough start this season but showing signs of improvement each game.

After playing host Oostburg close for most of a Central Lakeshore Conference game Sept. 1, the Warriors faded down the stretch in a 7-0 loss.

“We played a good 65 minutes and only allowed them two goals, but we also played poorly for the other 15 minutes and let them score five goals during that period of time,” Ozaukee coach John Annis said.

Annis praised the determined play of Noah Stahl, Justin St. Peter, Brad Collins and Kaleb Mabry.

Ozaukee goalkeeper Elijah Mabry made 17 saves.

The loss dropped the Warriors to 0-5 in league games.

Howards Grove 9, Ozaukee 1

The Warriors fell behind, 5-1, by halftime and couldn’t recover in a CLC loss at home Aug. 30.

“The team displayed a never-give-up attitude,” Annis said. “We are improving every game and can see it in how both our offense and defense operate.”

Mabry and fellow keeper Tyler Klippel combined for 18 saves.

This week, Ozaukee played Living Word Lutheran on Tuesday, will host Sheboygan Lutheran at 4:30 p.m. Thursday and participate in the St. Anthony’s Invitational on Friday and Saturday.

On Sept. 13, the Warriors will play a 4:30 p.m. road game against Sheboygan Christian.